Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Sweden (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (CSE), the Swedish Agency for Government Employers (SAGE), the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), the Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees (TCO), and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), communicated with the Government’s report.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap and occupational segregation. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes that, in its report, the Government indicates that the report which was issued on 29 May 2024 on how to implement Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms, concluded that a well-structured pay survey would contribute to the detection and remediation of unjustified pay gaps. The Government adds that: (1) in view of a report issued by the Commission for Gender-Equal Lifetime Incomes in February 2022, the Swedish National Mediation Institute was tasked with carrying out gender equality analyses which confirmed that foreign-born women have significantly lower incomes than both domestically born women and corresponding groups of men; and (2) in 2022 the Swedish Gender Equality Agency reported that salary levels are significantly lower in occupations dominated by women and that several factors contribute to this, including the fact that women on average take more parental leave and sick leave than men, and continue to have more part-time jobs. In this respect, the Committee notes that the Commission for Gender-Equal Lifetime Incomes also stressed in its report that: (1) in general, women have a higher level of education than men, but that this does not always give a return in terms of their income; and (2) women’s income growth is affected negatively by parenthood to a greater extent than men’s. The Committee further notes: (1) the Government’s statement that income from business activity is also an area where the gap between women and men is particularly striking; and (2) that, as stated in the Gender Equality Policy in Sweden, since one key factor in explaining such income disparities is the gender segregation of the labour market, the Swedish Public Employment Service has been tasked with promoting gender equality and combating gender divisions in the labour market. As regards the gender pay gap, the Committee notes with interest that, all categories of employees combined, the gender pay gap, which was estimated at 13.4 per cent in 2013, decreased to 9.9 per cent in 2019, a level at which it has stayed since. However, the Committee notes that large variations can be observed, depending on the employment sector. For instance, a large pay gap was observed among persons employed in the regions (17.8 per cent) or among white-collar workers in the private sector (14.9 per cent). The smallest pay gap was observed among persons employed in the municipalities (1.4 per cent). As regards the observations of the social partners, the Committee takes note with interest that: (1) the TCO provided several examples of cooperation between employers and employees to promote the principle of equal pay and indicated that Finansförbundet (one of its affiliates within the banking sector) instituted continuous cooperation between employers and employees by means of a joint committee which regularly distributes a Gender Equality Reward and promotes pay statistics disaggregated by sex; (2) at central level, the LO contributes to special raises of salary for female-dominated occupations; (3) the SALAR has a nine-point programme called “A gender-equal policy of employment” which is widely used by employers at local and municipal levels, and which contains materials on discriminatory pay; (4) the SALAR and its counterparts have been elaborating guidelines and providing information regarding issues related to equal pay for a long time and agreed to increase the salaries for large female-dominated occupational groups, for example assistant nurses; and (5) the SAGE cooperates in collecting statistics disaggregated by sex as regards pay and elaborated guidelines, for instance to support the equal pay work at the local level. The Committee asks the Government to continue providing information on any initiative or measure taken or envisaged to address: (i) the persistent occupational gender segregation, including any initiative taken by the Swedish Public Employment Service to combat gender divisions in the labour market; and (ii) the gender pay gap, including any initiative geared towards the most affected categories of workers, such as foreign-born women, and women employed in the regions or as white-collar workers in the private sector. The Committee also asks the Government to continue providing updated statistics on the distribution of women and men in the public and private sectors, and on the gender pay gap in the different occupational positions.

Article 2. Promoting the application of the principle of the Convention. Pay surveys. The Committee takes note that, in reply to its previous comment, the Government indicates that the Equality Ombudsman is tasked with supervising compliance with the Discrimination Act (2008:567), which requires employers to work on active measures, i.e. “prevention and promotion measures aimed at preventing discrimination and serving in other ways to promote equal rights and opportunities regardless of gender […] within a given establishment”. In this respect, the Committee takes note of the Government’s indication that the Ombudsman participated in seminars and other events concerning issues related to equal pay, and regularly conducted training and awareness-raising activities for employers on active measures, including pay surveys. The Committee also takes note that: (1) between 8 December 2022 and 30 April 2024, the E-guide on Active Measures Against Discrimination had 19,638 visits; (2) between 17 January and 30 April 2024, the online training on pay surveys had 615 visits; (3) some of the TCO-affiliated members have elaborated joint guidelines and materials for pay surveys; and (4) an affiliated member held a webinar in 2022 for 300 local representatives of both employers and employees in order to promote joint guidelines and materials in the area of equal pay. The Committee further takes note that, between July 2021 and April 2024: (1) the Equality Ombudsman carried out 12 pay survey supervisions and six follow-up supervisions; (2) in one of the two supervisions that the Ombudsman conducted to monitor private employers’ compliance with their duty to carry out pay surveys, the Ombudsman found that one of the employers breached the law; and (3) the Ombudsman handled two cases of alleged gender-based pay discrimination that were eventually rejected by the court. As far as the public sector is concerned, the Committee takes note of the Government’s indication that: (1) in the pay surveys conducted regarding ten large government agencies, the Ombudsman found recurring mistakes, such as a lack of analysis of pay for work that is considered as equal or the lack of analysis concerning pay differences; (2) when the Ombudsman noted deficiencies, the case was sent back to the same government agency for a follow-up supervision; and (3) in the follow-up supervisions the Ombudsman found that improvements had been made. Lastly, as regards the inquiry conducted to determine whether the provisions regarding supervision of the active measures are appropriate, the Committee refers to the direct request it addresses to the Government under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). The Committee asks the Government to indicate if, among the proposals made following the inquiry, any related to the provisions concerning supervision of the pay surveys and, if so, to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged by the Government authorities in this regard.

Articles 2(2)(c) and 4. Collective agreements and collaboration with the social partners. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes with interest that according to the SAGE, central agreements point out the responsibility of the social partners at the local level to work jointly against any irrelevant differences in pay. The Committee also notes the Government’s indications that: (1) the overwhelming majority of central collective agreements include guidelines for local wage setting (within the company or the public sector); (2) central agreements that do not include that kind of guidelines (or only limited ones) are those that contain wage scales or similar arrangements; and (3) the principles for local wage determination as expressed in the central collective agreements are gender-neutral. The Government adds that in terms of gender equality, the guidelines for wage setting are expressed in different ways in the central collective agreements, but that there are many common features and often connections to what is stipulated in the Discrimination Act (2008:567). The Government gives three examples of common principles and guidelines that can be found in agreements applicable to the private sector: (1) those focusing on the fairness of wage setting and addressing discrimination; (2) those focusing on the application of the agreements’ wage principles (similar cases shall be treated equally) and the same gender-neutral criteria; and (3) those focusing on what the outcome of a wage review should be, and expressing the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. In this respect, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that some agreements refer to “objectively unjustified differences”, in the context of wages for work that is considered “equal or equivalent”. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that: (1) in the municipal sector, the basic provisions in the central collective agreements are largely the same as those applicable for the private sector, the idea being that the local parties should develop the detailed forms for local wage determination based on guidelines in the central agreements; and (2) in the government sector, the central collective agreements emphasize that wages should be determined on objective grounds, and the local parties should ensure that there is no unfairness in wage setting and share a responsibility to equalize and prevent differences in wages and other employment conditions between women and men performing work considered “equal or equivalent”. In this respect, the Committee wishes to remind the Government that the principle of “work of equal value” expressed in Article 1(b) of the Convention goes beyond equal remuneration for “equal”, “the same” or “similar” work, and also encompasses work that is of an entirely different nature, which is nevertheless of equal value (see General Survey of 2012 on fundamental Conventions, paragraph 673). The Committee asks the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the general collective agreements applicable in both the public and private sectors give full expression and full effect to the principle of equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal value enshrined in the Convention, without limitations that are contrary to the Convention, and to provide information on any progress achieved in this regard.

Article 3. Objective appraisal of jobs. The Committee notes that: (1) the Government did not provide information on the job evaluation method applicable in the public sector; (2) in February 2022, the Commission for Gender-Equal Lifetime Incomes recommended that Statistics Sweden, working jointly with the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, incorporate a clearer gender-equality perspective in the classification of occupations; and (3) according to the SAGE, in collective agreements at the central level, the social partners have reached a consensus on what is considered to be objective criteria when determining wages. In this respect, the Committee recalls that work performed by women and men shall be compared and evaluated on the basis of objective factors, such as qualifications or skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions, and that objective job evaluation methods are particularly important in order to avoid the discriminatory undervaluation of jobs in which women are concentrated. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the job evaluation methods applicable in the public and private sectors, and the criteria used to ensure that job classifications and pay scales are free from any gender bias.